Religious WhatsApp group row: Kerala govt suspends two IAS officers for violation of discipline

The Kerala government suspended two IAS officers on Monday for disciplinary violations. The decision was taken by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on the basis of a report from the chief secretary amid furore over the ongoing ‘religious WhatsApp group’ controversy.

The Kerala Police had conducted an investigation after K Gopalakrishnan — the Director of Industries and Commerce — filed a complaint about his WhatsApp account was used to create religion-based groups on the app. Reports suggest the phone had not been hacked. However Thiruvananthapuram City Police Commissioner Sparjan Kumar stated that it remains unclear whether the device was compromised as it had been ‘reset’.

Officers from various communities were added to the group — labelled as a Hindu community group — at the beginning of November. Gopalakrishnan however told the police that he had not added any officials to the group in question. He had allegedly dismantled the group and lodged a complaint upon noticing that his personal WhatsApp number had been misused.

“The government will look into this matter. There is a general code of conduct for IAS officers, which falls under the Public Administration department. We are currently examining the situation. Let’s review and determine what needs to be done,” state Industries Minister P Rajeeve had told reporters earlier this month.

Meanwhile fellow IAS officer N Prasanth was suspended for criticising and levelling accusations against a senior IAS officer on social media.

He had recently taken to Facebook to accuse A Jayathilak, the Additional Chief Secretary, of "orchestrating baseless" news reports against him. In his post, Prasanth alleged that Jayathilak had become a "special reporter' and was working to undermine him by spreading unfounded allegations through the media.

The issue cropped up following a media report that alleged lapses on Prasanth's part, claiming that several crucial files from 'Unnathi'--an initiative dedicated to the welfare of Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs)--had mysteriously gone missing during his tenure as its CEO. The report also claimed that Jayathilak had submitted a report on this matter to Chief Minister Vijayan.

(With inputs from agencies)